His Blood Is On Us

By Danny Saavedra

“‘Which of the two do you want me to release to you?’ asked the governor. ‘Barabbas,’ they answered. ‘What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?’ Pilate asked. They all answered, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why? What crime has he committed?’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It is your responsibility!’ All the people answered, ‘His blood is on us and on our children!’ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”—Matthew 27:21–26 (NIV)

What would you do if you hit the proverbial jackpot and instantly became wealthy? 2,000 years ago, Barabbas hit the jackpot.

Did he win some ancient Roman lottery? In a way . . . Every year at Passover, the Roman Governor over Judea, Pontius Pilate, released one prisoner. According to the Cambridge Commentary, “The release of prisoners was usual at certain festivals at Rome.” Why did they do this? Because when you’re a brutal empire ruling through force, it helps to occasionally throw the people a bone to keep morale up and uprisings down. It reminds me a bit of The Hunger Games novels/movies. Whatever district the winner of the Hunger Games was from would get double the food rations for the year.

In this case, the prisoners presented for pardon were Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, and Barabbas, an infamous rebel and murderer. It seems like an easy choice, right? Why would anyone want to release Barabbas, a murderer who deserved his death sentence? Why would anyone choose to sentence Jesus to death instead? Even Pilate, the Roman governor, found no guilt in Him and knew the religious leaders were doing this “out of self-interest” and questioned the people’s request for Jesus to be crucified. But the crowd chose to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus.

God masterfully painted a picture here for us. Jesus—who was perfect, sinless, and judged by the highest authority in the region to have committed no crime—should have gone free, while Barabbas—a notorious criminal—was worthy of wrath and death. Thus, by being the crucified one, Jesus took the punishment that was meant for Barabbas.

But Barabbas isn’t the only picture God painted here. The reaction of the Jewish crowd is another. Now, I want to address something quickly: Some have, for millennia, used this passage and the other Gospels to assign the blame for Jesus’ death to the Jewish people, accusing them of Deicide (Latin for “killing God”). Here’s the thing, though, Jesus said, “No one takes it (His life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18 NIV).

Jesus was in control the entire time. It was by design that He died for our sins to save us. In this sense, His blood is on all our shoulders, our children, and children’s children since Adam and Eve. No one is free from that guilt.

We’re all Barabbas because Jesus’ cross was all of ours! 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” And 1 Timothy 2:6 (NLT) says, “He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” And we’re all the crowd who shouted, “Crucify Him,” because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV).

But there’s another sense/lens through which I want you to think about the words the crowd uttered: “His blood is on us and on our children!” The truth is that afterward, His blood was in fact on some of them and on many of their children—and on me, and if you’re a believer reading this, on you, too. Not in the sense that the crowd meant it, but in the sense that like the Passover lamb’s blood on the doorpost saved the Israelites in Egypt, His blood is on the doorpost of my life!

I thank God every day that the blood of Jesus is on me, and I pray it will be on my children and their children. It’s only “by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11 NIV) that we are saved from sin, death, and hell because His blood “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14 NIV). What a wonderful gift and a beautiful truth to have the laundry detergent of the blood of the Lamb used to remove the crimson stains of our lives and wash us white as snow!

Pause: What are you doing with the freedom Jesus gave you on the cross?

Practice: If you’ve already received freedom in Christ, spend some time praying for the Lord to help you walk in your freedom and not fall back into bondage to anything. If you’ve never received Jesus and you’re ready to experience that freedom, simply pray and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and come into your life as Lord and Savior.

Pray: Father, it’s for freedom that You have set me free in Christ. I pray I may walk in the freedom of Christ and not put myself back into slavery to the world and my sinful desires. And I pray You would use me to help others know Your freedom and experience it for themselves! Amen.